Debbie Schlussel: Senate Likely To Fail America on Immigration Overhaul
In December, under the unswerving insistence of Rep. Tom Tancredo, the House passed sweeping immigration reform. It did not have a lot of things Tancredo--and any reasonable American who wants to stop the hemmorhaging at the border--wanted. But it also did not have the outrageous Guest Invaders program pushed by the Bush Administration.
Not surprisingly, pan-Islamist and resident Republican sleaze-fountain Grover Norquist, was arm in arm with illegal immigrant advocates against the legislation. That said more than anything that the bill was a good one.
Remarkably, the house effort made it a felony to be here illegally and a crime to aid an illegal immigrant. Now, however, the Senate is "working" on the legislation. The Senate, according to today's Wall Street Journal, may not include these very important efforts. As the sub-headline on the piece says, "Effort May Fail Without Accord on Undocumented Workers Already in the U.S."
That's exactly right. Without stopping those who are already here and those who are helping them (including WAL-MART EXECUTIVES), there is no disincentive for aliens to repeatedly try to invade the borders and for Wal-Mart types to repeatedly try to employ them to save money, etc.
Sadly, Arlen Specter, Republicrat chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing the legislation, doesn't want to include the felony and criminal portions in the Senate legislation. He claims it is in the national interest for employers "to be able to find and hire available workers" from the pool of illegals. No, Senator, it is NOT.
While I'm normally a fan of the Manhattan Institute, I despise their 9/10 view on immigration. The WSJournal quotes MI's resident illegal alien-o-phile Tamar Jacoby, claiming that the Republican House legislation is "hoops you make them [illegal aliens] jump through to stay."
Sorry, Tamar, this is not about clowns at a circus. It's about national security, on which we've been woefully inattentive.
Unfortunately, if the Senate does not mirror the House legislation more closely, Tom Tancredo's December victory will be a 2006 defeat, just under five years after 9/11. According to the Journal, the Pew Hispanic Center says that illegal immigration grows by about 485,000 a year. And since it's liberal Pew, that means the number is far larger.
Posted by Debbie on March 2, 2006 02:10 PM to Debbie Schlussel